Day 44 - Solstice 2023 🇫🇷

Solstice 2023 🇫🇷
Jill and I have seen the solstice in a few places around the world. Sometimes on our own, sometimes at festivals. This solstice was going to be a much more laid back, chilled event; a  lazy day at the quirky campsite. In the morning the fresh bread did not disappoint and I had to resist eating more of it and save some to go with the paté for lunch. A chance to wander around the site. The toilet block has been commented on by several people who have stayed. All the toilet and shower doors are a different colour and it matchs the inside of each area. All very hippy but couldn't really wander around the toilet block taking photos 🫣. The little bird boxes dotted about the site were cute 😚... and the little wooden 'tents' you could rent.

.... again more bird boxes. Bird boxes everywhere 😯. Lunch time came and went, it was sunny but not too hot so time to go for a  wander, a paddle in the sea, a spot of geocaching and a glimps of .. a lighthouse🤗

Toooo many geocache's 😳 from our end of the beach to around the headland there where 17 little hidden boxs or capsules but with so many tourists ( muggles) about quite a few had to be passed on by. In total I tried for 4 and got 3 so it wasnt a bad days catch.
Then it was time to have a look at this lighthouse....
The Old Lighthouse : Built between 1842 and 1845 from granite stone blocks transported over to the site on small boats,   white lighthouse it is a square tower 33 meters high with a rectangular two-storey building at its base. Its rapeseed oil lamp was lit for the first time on light was a steady white light with a range of 14 miles. The buildings attached to it are now holiday homes.
The New Lighthouse : Built between 1897 and 1902 with a height of 82.5m  is the highest lighthouse in Europe and the highest freestone lighthouse in the world 😱. 
It sweeps all the north of the Brittany coasline to 52  km in all directions and is visible from the middle of the English channel in good weather. It is a triple-walled tower, tapered cone shaped on the outside (frustoconical - here you go Megan, try using that word in a sentance at school 😉) and cylindrical on the inside sat on a large stone base. 
    There are a total of 397 steps to get from bottom to top. Its on Jills list to try and get too but Google maps shows it on an island. Looking at it from ground zero there seems to be a  rocky causeway uncovered at low tide. In fact looking at it on the French OS app shows a little bit of sand around the left hand side that, maybe, you could use at low tide to get to it. The website lets you book tickets to visiti it every other day for €7 but states, in red, that you have to arrange your own transport 😯. By that we are assuming by boat but no details given of who to contact. All very confusing.
Anyway, given the fact that the sand at the waters edge was quite 'sinky' and the tide was on the turn, we left it for another day. We cut back inland across the pensula, past the strange rock formations that looked like people trying to escape from the underworld (or have I been in the sun too long 🥴).
Back along our beach and more paddling then home for a beer.
..... thats our van, right at my finger tip 😅

Cold cider from the fridge and a beer that I think tastes of raspberries and Jill thinks smells of olives 🙄
You cant go thru a solstice day without 
 watching either the sun rise or the sunset if your on the coast. So, at 10.23pm we watched the sun set on what had been a very, very enjoyable day. 😌




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